Barricades are posted in front of the closed Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. The political stare-down on Capitol Hill shows no signs of easing, leaving federal government functions in limbo from coast to coast. CAROLYN KASTER, AP

WASHINGTON — The government limped into a third day of partial shutdown Thursday with no sign of a way out after a White House conversation between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders seemed only to harden the stances of Democrats and Republicans.

“The president remains hopeful that common sense will prevail,” the White House said in a written statement after the unproductive meeting about the political standoff that has idled 800,000 federal workers and halted an array of services Americans expect from their government.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, complained to reporters that Obama used the meeting simply to declare anew that he won't negotiate over his health care law.

House Republicans, pushed by a core of tea party conservatives, are insisting that Obama accept changes to the health care law he pushed through three years ago as part of the price for reopening all of government. Obama refuses to consider any deal linking the health care law to routine legislation needed to extend government funding.

“We're probably through negotiating with ourselves,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Thursday on MSNBC.

Republicans who initially sought to defund the health care law in exchange for funding the rest of government have gradually scaled back their demands but say they need some sort of offer from Obama.

Expressing frustration after Tuesday night's White House meeting, Boehner said: “All we're asking for here is a discussion and fairness for the American people under Obamacare.”

The White House said Obama would be happy to talk about health care — but only after Congress moves to reopen the government “and stop the harm this shutdown is causing to the economy and families across the country.”

The lack of progress fanned the widening impression that the shutdown dispute could persist into mid-October and become tangled with an even more consequential battle over the debt limit. The Obama administration has said Congress must renew the government's authority to borrow money by Oct. 17 or risk a first-ever federal default, which many economists say would dangerously jangle the world economy.

The shutdown stalemate is already rattling investors. Stock markets in the U.S. and overseas faded Wednesday, and Europe's top central banker, Mario Draghi, called the shutdown “a risk if protracted.” Leading financial executives met with Obama, and one, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, said politicians should not use a potential default “as a cudgel.”

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said the House could easily defuse the worsening situation.

“Get us through this six weeks and then let's sit down and figure out how we pay our debts and bring down federal spending,” McCaskill of Missouri, said on MSNBC Thursday.

Republicans planned to continue pursuing their latest strategy: muscling bills through the House that would restart some popular programs.

Votes were on tap for restoring funds for veterans and paying members of the National Guard and Reserves. On Wednesday, the chamber voted to finance the national parks and biomedical research and let the District of Columbia's municipal government spend federally controlled dollars.

Democrats demanded that the entire government be reopened, and the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made clear that the GOP's narrower bills have no chance of survival. They said the strategy showed that Republicans were buckling under public pressure, with Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., saying groups like veterans were being “used as a pawn in this cynical political game.”

Republicans countered that Democrats were being inflexible and were to blame for the continued closure of programs the GOP was trying to reopen. A favorite target was Reid, who has made clear that the Senate will be a graveyard for the Republican effort.

Barricades are posted in front of the closed Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. The political stare-down on Capitol Hill shows no signs of easing, leaving federal government functions in limbo from coast to coast. CAROLYN KASTER, AP
The U.S. Capitol is seen as the political stare-down in Congress shows no signs of easing, in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, AP
With the federal government out of money and out of time, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., center, meets with House GOP conferees as the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate remain at an impasse, neither side backing down over Obamacare, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. From left are, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Cantor, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp , R-Mich., and Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, AP
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada arrive on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, for an event to celebrate the start of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, with other lawmakers and people whose lives have been impacted by lack of health insurance. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, AP
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, right, accompanied by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announces to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013, that President Barack Obama has invited the top leaders in Congress to meet with him at the White House to seek a solution to the government shutdown crisis. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, AP

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